I have a large framed picture of one of my ancestors in my room. She was my great-great-great grandmother and rumored to have been a brothel owner. Every time I look at the picture, I think about her and imagine what she was like. She is my connection to my past and I want to learn as much as I can about her. But somehow I’ve not yet gotten round to yet.

Although the heritage scene all around the world is blossoming with new centres and organisations, often institutions don’t spend enough time learning and reading about best practices. This website developed by the Connecticut Humanities Council’s Heritage Resource Center (HRC) is designed to connect directors, staff, and board members with current thinking and discussion on the most important issues affecting museums, historical societies, arts agencies, and other non-profit cultural organisations today.

It has book reviews, links to useful Web sites and blogs, and a variety of reports, surveys, and tools all organized around eight core subject areas:

Audience Assessment & Evaluation

Technology & New Media

Marketing & Communications

Leadership & Governance

Finance & Business Planning

Collections & Archives

Museum Education

Public Programming

Community Center

A really helpful and useful resource.

As part of my job, I do a substantial amount of research in Singapore’s National Library and at the National Archives. Often I see groups of students coming to these places also trying to do research. However, most of them do not have a clue as to where to begin. I heard one of them go up to the counter at the Archives and ask: “Where do I find the history of Singapore?”

When I hear such questions as this, my teacher-mode kicks in and I feel like giving them a lecture how to do basic research. Since they’re not around, I’ve jotted down some of my thoughts which I hope will be helpful to someone just starting on historical research in Singapore.

Here are my steps to doing historical research in the library and archives:

Step 1: Identify what information you need

In a history project, some of the basic information required are:
-       Milestones (Important events arranged in chronological order)
-       Stories about these milestone events
-       Stories about significant people
-       Archival photographs/map

Step 2: Look for books on the subject (Library)
-       Use the NLB catalogue to check for titles on the topic you are researching
-       Locate the books, read them and extract information needed (see step 1)
-       Be aware of copyright restrictions

Step 3: Look for newspaper articles on the subject (Library)
-       Use an online databases such as Newspapers.sg to locate articles related to the subject you are researching
-       You may also read the newspapers on microform or on the computers at the National Library

Step 4: Look for photographs and oral history (National Archives of Singapore)
-       Use the online database to locate archival photographs or oral history on your subject.
-       If you wish to purchase photographs, you can order them online and pick them up several days later at the archives.
-       For the oral history, some interviews may have transcripts which can be read online. Otherwise, personally go down to the archives and retrieve the actual tape for listening. Take a notebook (electronic or pen and paper) and jot down notes as you listen.

Step 5: Look for other documents: maps, government and private records, speeches
-       Use the online database to look for other sources on your subject.
-       Personally visit the archives to retrieve and view these documents.
-       Take note that you have to pay for reproduction costs so be sure of what you want before making a reproduction request.

Once you have got your information, then you go on to your next major task of reading, compiling, thinking and writing…but that is another post.

The interview is a critical way in which we learn about the past, of both the individual interviewed and the period of time he or she lived in. I was quite fascinated by an interview programme known as “Living self-portraits”. In this series  the Director of the National Portrait Gallery Marc Pachter interviewed interesting characters in American history before a live audience in order to create a “living self-portrait” of them.

In this TED talk, Pachter talks about the programme and discusses secrets to a successful interview, empathy and energy being key.

Watch the interview here.

I was talking to a young person recently about potential careers. He was surprised when I said that there were opportunities for history graduates. He thought that if you studied history, you could only be a teacher. So he was thinking about a career in science — doing something related to “the human genome”.

In Singapore and elsewhere, the work opportunities for historians are expanding. It’s just that sometimes we have to think outside the box. This blog “In the Service of Clio”was recently brought to my attention. It is currently running a series of essays from history Ph.D.s (in USA) who are using their degrees outside of the normal history department. It makes for interesting reading.